BRUNCHIN' AT PROUD MARY'S

Brunch is my thing. If I could eat any meal for the rest of my life, it’d be brunch. I know it’s technically a hybrid of breakfast and lunch so should probably count as two but y’know, we’ll let that slide. Odds are that if a friend wants to meet for a celebration, catch-up, or any old excuse... the meal we choose to gather over is brunch. That's the main reason we're friends. Anyway, you get my gist.

I’m always on the hunt for new brunch places and am ecstatic when I find a new favourite. The weekend just gone, I knew I was going to be in the Shepherds Bush area and after a quick Google search (thank goodness for Google!) I stumbled across Proud Mary's Instagram page. I drooled over the photos for a good while (head over to their account and you'll understand why) and made unquestionable plans to go!

Saturday came around and I couldn't wait to go! The weather was pretty glorious in London so we took a pretty long stroll along the main high-street toward Proud Mary's. The exterior instantly brought a smile to my face; the building itself is painted bright yellow – sounds garish but it’s actually really inviting and fun. Who wouldn’t want to dine at a place like that?

Good brunch places in London are notorious for having a queue, no matter the time of day, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that we got seated to our table fairly quickly. The interiors were even cuter with dark wooden tables, loads of foliage, fresh flower arrangements, splashes of colour in the artwork; the whole space was basically an Instagramers dream.

It's quite a quaint place with only around 12 tables but it felt nice, cosy and comfortable; helped with the fact that we were seated next to a lovely couple with the cutest dog ever!

Despite already seeing the menu online, we still perused the menu for quite a while because everything looked and sounded so good! After some to-ing and fro-ing, I eventually decided on an iced coffee, green juice and the smashed avocado w/ halloumi & bacon. It's pretty hard for me to resist anything avocado related...

The drinks hit the spot nicely, you can't beat a good iced coffee on a warm(ish) day but the food wowed even more. I'd even say it was probably one of my favourite brunch meals to date. It was so simple but was executed so well; everything was cooked to perfection and complimented each other beautifully. The toast was crisp yet fluffy, the avocado was perfectly ripe, the bacon was flavoursome and it was all paired with dukkah which is a blend of spices and nuts which just elevated it from being like any other avocado on toast I've tried.

It was the kind of meal where despite being full about half way through, you pluck up ALL the might inside you to keep ploughing on until the very end. And that I did!!!

On arrival, I'd already eyed up the large display of cakes and sweet treats that lined the coffee counter and instantly knew I needed to save the tiniest bit of room for a slice of their homemade toasted banana bread. This urge was made worse by the couple next to us ordering a massive slice which meant I couldn't resist. I wanted to enjoy it so made the wise decision to take it 'to-go' and they popped a generous slice in a takeaway box for me.

... I lasted about 20 minutes before demolishing the whole slice. It was pure HEAVEN. The best I've ever had without even a shadow of a doubt. It was rich and moist with just the right amount of crunch from the caramelised nuts on top. Wanna know what the piece de resistance was? The maple butter... wow... just wow. Writing this was a bad idea because I can't stop thinking about the darn thing!

I couldn't have been happier with the whole experience. The service was exceptional, the staff were very friendly and happy to give recommendations, the atmosphere was relaxed and the food was mouth-wateringly good. 10/10 in my book!

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What do you tend to order when you go out for brunch? I'd love to know!

xo

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